Tag Archives: labrador retriever puppy

Amber is 10 weeks old now. Tomorrow it will be one week since she joined our family. And what a week it has been!

I feel like a member of “The Walking Dead,” between the needs of the new puppy and drops 4 times a day for my husband’s eyes, plus all the appointments, chores, errands, etc. This is definitely a character-building exercise!

Sweet Amber wants to be with her people. The attention we give her much of the day, with walks, playing with toys, introducing her to the other members of her animal family, swimming, etc., are never enough. She IS learning a ton, though. She is better in all areas.

We have a long way to go before she has manners and learns to behave, but she is smart and learns pretty fast. We are working with a stubborn streak…

She has been for three walks this morning and a swim so far. We’re about to add Molly to the porch for HER character-building exercise for the day.

I broke out in welts this morning, and I suspect I’m allergic to something. I just took a dose of Benedryl and we’ll see if that performs miracles. My hand is better, but I’m sporting a really impressive bruise on the back of my hand. I added to the mix this morning, running into a small, sharp puppy tooth while she was giving me back the ball. Now I have a big bandaid on TOP of part of the bruise…

Amber is learning her name now, plus “NO!”, plus “COME” and “SIT!’ I should be teaching her ‘wait’ and ‘down,’ but it seems that “NO!” suffices for right now. I’m trying to get her to sit while I put her food bowl down. Today we had an explosion of food everywhere when I couldn’t hold her down with one hand while I put the bowl down with the other. Happily enough, she acted like a vacuum, getting every bit of food off the porch floor before looking for more. Since the edge was off, she cooperated more with the plan, sitting for at least one second before I let her dive into the bowl. :0)

We ordered a different style of harness, since she is still kicking at the one you see above. It won’t last long at this rate. The one we ordered has a chest piece of sturdy fabric, with adjustment straps at the neck and under the arms. Hopefully, she’ll be less aggravated with the new design.

So – you’ve seen my days now – comprised of rushing around like the proverbial chicken. Things will tame down in the taking-care-of-hubby department by the end of next week. The dog will take a bit longer…